They Shined
by armygundamgirl
Summary: An outsiders view of the gundam pilots, original character point of view, but centered on the gundam pilots. Basically, my thoughts on why they made such an impact on us.
1. Chapter 1

They shinned. Not literally, but to me they did. There were five of them, and they kept mostly to themselves. But I watched them, like I watched everything else. It was what I was best at, at least in that moment of my life. They were two years older than me; I was a sophomore, and they were seniors. If one looked closely enough, you could tell that they had traveled to all nine levels of hell and lived to joke about it. Yet they still shinned as pure and bright as a newborn babe. I don't think that they even realized how much they shinned. But I did. I saw through that face that they put up at school, and in public; the same one that I out up. I saw the light they gave off. I don't know if anyone else saw it, cause if they did they didn't say anything, like I didn't. I was too scared at the time, to scared of everything. And angry. Scared and angry. Wasn't sure what I was angry about though, not then. It wasn't until near the end of the school year that I realized why I was so angry. But that's for later, you probably want to know who these people are that I hold in such high regard.

The first one, I guess that you could call him the 'leader', though they were all completely independent, was named Heero Yuy. He was tall, with dark skin, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. I dubbed him 'the dark one' when I first met him, and not because of what I just described. He had a darkness about him, you saw it in the way he moved, the look in his eyes. He had seen and done horrors that I couldn't even dream about, and I hadn't had all that sheltered of a life myself. But even with all that darkness about him, there was a feeling of trust. If he was there you knew that everything was going to be all right, and it came naturally to him.

The second one was Duo Maxwell. He was the complete opposite of Heero. His skin was lighter, his hair was what my mother used to call 'playful brown', never mind the fact that it was several feet long and held in a braid. One of my friends, who is a brilliant artist, once tried to draw him with short hair, and it just didn't look right. And we could never tell what color his eyes were. Sometimes I would look at them and they would be a dark blue. Someone else would look at them at the same time and they would be violet. I thought it was awesome, not like my normal blue eyes. I nicknamed him 'laughter' because no matter what situation he or anyone else was in, he always had a smile on his face, and he could make anyone laugh no matter what kind of mood they were in.

The next two I have to talk about together, because, well, they always were. And they fit so well with each other. No one ever questioned their friendship, but there was much heated debate around the school as to how far that friendship extended. They were Trowa Barton and Quatre Winner. Trowa was very tall, with blonde/brown hair that naturally fell over one of his amazing emerald green eyes. He was very silent most of the time, but it was a comfortable silence. He had this quiet, patient way of helping you without making it seem like it was a burden to him. Quatre was almost, but not quite the complete opposite of him. He had very light blonde hair, the kind that most girls would kill for, and beautiful crystal blue-green eyes. His personality was more like Duo's, but a little quieter. He was gentle, with kind smiles and sympathetic looks that told you he knew _exactly_ what you were going through. They were Silence and Light respectively.

The last one of their group was Wufei Chang. When I first met him, I had absolutely no idea what to make of him. He was more like Heero in that he had darkness, but at the same time similar to Quatre with how gentle he could be. He was full blooded Chinese, and had those beautiful Asian features that everyone falls in love with. He was very smart, but not stuck up about it. And he knew how to teach or explain things to you in such a way that not only did you understand it, but you didn't mind having a tutor. He was 'Scholar'.

So now you know who it is that I'm talking about. Still wondering why? Well, it's finally my senior year, and I was chosen as the student speaker for my class. I wasn't in government, or valedictorian or anything, but the Principle had decided that they wanted a regular student, someone who hadn't necessarily excelled in academics, to say a few words and my classmates chose me. Right now I'm sitting on the stage and waiting for my turn to speak, holding tightly to my speech and thinking about those boys who shinned in my eyes when I was a sophomore.

888

Early September

888

I had always been a little short for my age; not so short that I got nicknamed 'shrimp', but short enough to get passed over by most people. It hadn't really bothered me before, but being in high school changed all that. Everyone was so damn _tall_ here, and the jocks were all built like tanks, even some of the girl jocks. It was disconcerting, and made me more than a little self-conscious. Not only that, but I wasn't particularly good looking. My friends told me that I was pretty enough, and that I was no where near hideous looking, but there was nothing about my looks that stood out. I had light brown hair, blue eyes, and light skin that burned really easy.

The first day that I met them was the first day of school. There was minor chaos around the campus as we all tried to make our way to the classrooms that had our schedules, the new freshmen having the most difficult time with this, and trying to find friends that we hadn't seen much of over the summer. I myself had gotten stuck behind a group of football players, who were walking slower than I thought possible of any human, and trying to find a way around them without bringing attention to myself. I had done enough of that last year, and they had done everything that they could think of to make my life a living hell. All they could think of though was shoving me in the halls and spreading rumors about me. As if I cared about the rumors, it actually gave me a chance to see early on as to who would make a good friend and who was going to follow the popular people. And the shoving didn't bother me; I lived in a pretty rough part of town so I was used to getting pushed around. Of course I made sure that none of them heard about that, cause then they might have put some effort into torturing me, and I did not really care for that.

Finally I saw an opening, and I began to squeeze through. Unfortunately, one of them chose that moment to push one of his friends, which in turn caused me to be squished up against a locker. Dammit, there goes my anonymity. As one they seemed to turn a predatory gaze on me, and I steeled myself, praying that I could keep them from seeing that they got to me.

"Well, lookee here, it's our little squishing bag, all ready for a new year of being squished." His friends laughed, and I mentally rolled my eyes.

"Looks like the studies are true." I said as I stood before them.

"What studies pipsqueak?"

"That some people, especially jocks(1), get dumber over the summer." They all looked at me with murder in their eyes, and I started to mentally kick myself for saying something like that, as I was now sure I had signed my death warrant. One of them pulled back his fist, and I scrunched my eyes tight while I waited for the first of what was to be many blows.

It never came. Long seconds passed, and I dared to peak open one eyelid, only to open the other one wider than I thought possible and stare in shock at one of the most gorgeous guys that I had ever seen holding back the fist of Daniel Jacobson, Captain of the football team and the one who had been about to hit me.

"It is not honorable to pick on someone who is weaker unless they have a fair chance of defending themselves." Wufei Chang said, though at this moment I didn't know who he was.

"And what would you know about it Chink?(2)" Daniel sneered as he wrenched his hand out of Wufei's grasp. Wufei stood his ground in front of me, and I had taken enough self-defense classes to recognize a master when I saw them, and I almost prayed for Daniel. Almost.

"I know that she is more likely to become famous by using her brains then you are to become famous through sports." He said easily. Each of the football players bristled, and it was taking all of my control not to start giggling. Daniel looked like he was ready to throw a punch at Wufei, but one of his buddies held him back.

"You can get him later Daniel, one of the Narks are coming." The Narks were the slang term that us students used for the schools security monitors. Most of them were pretty nice, but we all knew better than to be caught breaking the rules while they were there. Daniel clenched his fist but only glared at Wufei.

"Watch your step Chink, you won't always be so lucky. You too squishing bag." Him and his buddies stalked off, pushing their way through the crowd, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Wufei then turned to me.

"Are you all right?" He asked. I nodded and gave a small smile.

"Yeah, thanks."

"You shouldn't let them push you around like that, it isn't very healthy."

"Normally no, but they don't ever actually hurt me. And I learned last year plenty of ways to stay out of their way."

"Still, you shouldn't just back down."

"What would I gain by fighting them? Besides, I go through worse walking home from school." It was at this point that I met Duo, as he was pushing his way through the crowd towards us.

"Hey Wufei, there you are. Where'd you disappear to?" He asked as he literally bounced where he stood.

"Just helping someone. As if it's any of your concern."

"Yeah, well, Heero wanted me to find you; we've still got some paperwork to fill out." It was then he spotted me, and his eyes lit up the way my friend Jens did every time she was about to tease someone for something. "Ohhhh, I see what you were doing. Already working over the ladies, aren't ya? You sure picked a pretty one." I blushed profusely, and Wufei spluttered while Duo ran off laughing.

"Maxwell!" Wufei yelled and followed after him. I leaned back against the locker and heaved a long sigh. I could already tell that this year was going to be interesting where they were concerned, and I hadn't even met the other three yet.

8

I met Trowa and Quatre in band class, and boy, I have never heard anyone play like the two of them. They played a duet for the teacher as their audition piece and so that he would know what chair to place them in, and there was complete and astonished silence while everyone listened, and then a huge round of applause when they finished. Quatre blushed most adorably at the praise, and Trowa…well, we never could tell what he was feeling. I play the clarinet myself, 2nd chair, First Clarinet (3), and have done so since 5th grade. Not the chair that I sit in, but playing Clarinet. It's probably the only thing that keeps me sane at times, though you might think otherwise if you've never been in band and have only looked from the outside. We can get pretty weird. Fun, but weird.

Ms. Jacobs put them at the head of their sections, with a look on her face that said there had better be no protests. She didn't need to worry, the students who had previously held those positions gladly relinquished them after that performance, and I was close enough to the Flutes that I could hear Rachel, First chair for the flute section from last year, start pestering Trowa about the techniques that he used for practice. I had a feeling that Jesse, last years First Violin, was doing the same to Quatre.

Ms. Jacobs called for quiet and started our rehearsal and I swear, everyone sat up just a little straighter and tried just a little harder. I even caught myself doing it. There was just this feeling with Trowa and Quatre there that we were in the presence of greatness, and something about that made us want to do better.

8

Heero turned out to be in my ceramics class. He was seated at the same table as me, along with two girls from the junior class that I recognized from somewhere but couldn't place, who couldn't stop giggling, whispering, and sneaking glances at him. I started to admire him right there, cause even though there is no way he couldn't have noticed them he acted like they didn't exist at all; where as I was ready to throttle the both of them and the comments weren't even directed at me.

That first day of class we didn't use any clay, the teacher just handed us some art worksheets and class papers, and showed us different pieces of art on the overhead projector. I only briefly paid attention, as I had seen the pictures last year when there was a mix up with my schedule, and began to rifle through the class papers, finally coming upon the list of our assignments for the semester and when each was due. I skimmed over them quickly, and hoped that I wouldn't have too much trouble with them. I love crafts, and am pretty decent at them, but the closest that I had come to using clay was Playdough.

Mr. Clark finished the slide show and handed out pieces of paper, telling us to sketch out our first assignment, which was to be a sort of self-portrait plaque. Sort of in the way that we were to use words, pictures, symbols, or drawings of some kind to describe us instead of a picture. I tapped my pencil to my bottom lip out of habit as I thought of things to describe myself with. I put down my name, Kristen, in fancy lettering, a shooting star, and I wanted to put in a clarinet, but I can't sketch worth a damn so I knew that I would never be able to make one out of clay. The next choice would be to put Music notes, and then I decided to put a few bars from one of my favorite TV show theme songs. I'd have to search for that one though, so I just put a note on my paper to remind myself about it.

I looked up in surprise when my paper was snatched from me, and then wished that I could die right there when I saw that it was one of the two Juniors who had snatched it, and was now giggling with her friend over what I had put down. My ears burned hot with embarrassment.

"Maybe you should just squish your clay tomorrow, you know, cause you're the squishing bag." She said. Ohhh, now I remember them. They're on the cheerleading team, and help out the Jocks in torturing me. Her friend giggled with her.

"Yeah, like, she could like, squish it like she gets squished!" Her friend said, and then the two of them burst into fresh giggles. I had to fight to keep the tears from spilling over. I know that those words don't seem all that hateful, but that attitude was getting hard to ignore after a year of dealing with it. Heero then reached over, snatched my paper from their hands, and quickly looked over it. I thought that I was done for and began to plan my suicide. Instead of agreeing with them and picking up the torture, he glared at the girls.

"At least she put some thought into hers." He said. I stared at him wide-eyed while the Juniors huffed.

"What are you talking about? I put plenty of thought into mine." The first girl said.

"Then why have six other girls put the same symbols on their papers?" This stopped the cheerleaders cold, and I abandoned my thoughts of suicide. They then turned up their noses and asked Mr. Clark for different seats. Heero handed my paper back to me and returned to working on his own. I just sort of blinked for a few seconds before smoothing out my paper and returning to my own work.

8

5th period found me in Journalism class, which I was taking instead of English. It was a mixture of all the grades, and I found that Duo was in the class. He plopped himself down at my table, which I was sharing with my best friend Kari.

"So I have this class with the cutie from this morning; I don't think that we had a chance to properly meet. I'm Duo Maxwell, I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie." I stared at him blankly (I did that a lot with these guys) a little taken aback by his comment. Kari kicked me under the table to bring me back to reality.

"I'm Kari Stripend." She said. "This space case here is Kristen Dasher."

"Well, it's nice to meetcha. Did you two take this class last year?" He asked. Kari and I shared a proud smile.

"We started the class actually. It used to be a club, this is the first year that it's a class." I said. Duo smiled even wider.

"Well, then I have you to thank for giving me an option other than a regular English class, I was getting sick of them." Kari and I giggled at the face that he made. "You two must like writing a lot if you made this a class."

"We're going to be famous writers someday and need all the practice we can get." Kari said.

"Then I must be lucky to know you before all that. Can I have your autographs now so I don't have to wait in line at your book signing?" Kari and I giggled at the absurdity of the request, but we signed our names on a piece of paper and handed it to him. He folded it neatly and tucked it into his pocket, giving us a wink that made us giggle even more.

When we looked around the classroom to see who else was there we both stared at the girl, a senior, who was arguing quietly with the teacher. I nudged Kari.

"Didn't we kick her out of the club last year?" I asked. Kari nodded.

"We did. I wonder how she got in the class."

"Why did you kick her out?" Duo asked.

"The number one rule here is that all articles, even editorials, must be based on fact." I said. "Hers were anything but, so we took a vote and kicked her out." That was a very short version of what had actually happened, but it didn't seem appropriate to go into it at the moment. Justin, one of our members from last year, plopped down in the last empty chair at our table.

"Her father called the school and got her in the class, and she's trying to say that she got the class started." He said, then held out his hand to Duo. "Justin Kissinger."

"Duo Maxwell." Kari and I snorted.

"If she started the class then how come it's our names on all the paperwork that it took to get this class started?" Kari asked as we watched her take a seat in the front. Those already at the table (members from last year) got up and moved elsewhere, and the four of us laughed quietly as she tried to pretend that she hadn't noticed.

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1. There are studies that show that students do tend to forget what they learned over the summer, though I doubt that the jock part about the study is true, and I have nothing against jocks personally, but in this story they're not the best of people and I needed something that would make them mad that sounded semi-smart.

2. Derogatory term for Asian born people. I have nothing against them, but my Daniel character is racist so he would say things like that. I hate writing them though.

3. If you don't know about stuff like this, ask me and I'll explain, or find someone you know who is in band and ask them to explain.

So, how did you like? Please let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

Hi everyone! Thanks much to those who reviewed the last chapter, it let me know that I got across the message that I was trying to get across. Enjoy!

888

Middle of October

888

I sighed as I looked at the thermostat in my apartment. The heat had been turned off again, looks like Dad forgot to pay the bills. Or he spent all the money on gambling and booze. I debated whether or not to ask my older brother for money or use some of my own. Kevin would be mad if I used my own, but I hate asking him for money and it would be quicker if I sent the company the check myself. I'd have to stop by the bank and deposit my paycheck first though, otherwise I wouldn't have enough. Well, I could do that tomorrow before work, right now I have to get to school for the football game. And no, I don't like going, but our band plays at all the home games and it's part of our grade so I have to go.

I took a look at the clock, realized that if I didn't hurry I would be late, grabbed my bag and headed out the door.

"Dad, I'm going to school." I called out as I was putting on my coat. He crushed a beer can in response. I sighed and locked the door behind me.

My dad wasn't always like this, non-responsive and a gambler, but after mom divorced him he changed. She was a mobile suit pilot in the Alliance, and when they first got married everything was great. Things changed after I was born, I'm not really sure what though. I was six when they divorced, and Kevin said, since he is older and remembers more, that Dad had gotten fed up with her going on assignment and him not being told anything. He said that he was tired of worrying about her and that it wasn't healthy to put Kevin and I through that. Things were fine for a while, but then the Gundams came and OZ took control. That's when Mom died, during OZ's Coup de tat. Dad went down hill from there; he started gambling to try and make extra money so that Kevin and I could have what we needed, and with the gambling came the drinking. He began gambling just to gamble, and Kevin used his after school jobs to buy most of our food and clothes. Right after High School he joined the Preventers and sends me money every month, plus a gift every now and then. But most of the time I'm on my own money wise, and in every other respect as well. Though Kari's mom will usually invite me over for dinner, and I joined them for the holidays last year.

I left the apartment just as our mail was being delivered, and waved hello to our mailman, who has had this route since we moved in here.

"And just where do you think that you're going young lady? You need to sign for a package." He said with a smile. I slowed down and turned to him.

"What package?" He pulled it out of his bag and showed it to me.

"This one here." I quickly signed for it, then had to run as my bus passed by my house. It must not have seen me running, or just didn't care, cause by the time I made it to the bus stop at the end of the street it had already rounded a corner. I sat down on one of the rickety plastic seats that was there, breathing heavily and dug around in my bag for the bus schedule to see when the next one would be by. I cursed when I saw that it was going to be at least half an hour, giving Jess and I no chance to work on our duet, which is why I was going to school early in the first place.

I sat down on the hard metal bench to wait for the next bus. I just didn't feel like going back in my house to wait, despite how cold it was. I never liked to stay in my house longer than I had to, it was to depressing for me. And I didn't mind waiting; I could be very patient when I wanted to.

Five minutes later I looked up when a car stopped in front of the bus stop and blinked a little in surprise at the person who rolled down the window.

"Hey Kristen, need a ride?" Quatre asked. You didn't have to ask me twice. I gathered my stuff and got in the back seat, thankful that they had the heater on High.

"Thanks." I said.

"No problem. Where are you headed?"

"School. Jess and I were going to practice our duet."

"School it is then. How come you have so much stuff? It's just a football game tonight." I looked at my things, which took up most of the backseat, and realized that it was a lot of stuff. But I had learned from experience last year that it was all completely necessary.

"You didn't have to play at the football games at you old school?" I asked. Trowa and Quatre glanced at each other. (Trowa was driving).

"We've been home schooled up until now, so no, we haven't." Quatre said.

"Wow. Okay, well, all of this is necessary. First off, thick jackets cause it gets _really_ cold at night. Jess and I also alternate who brings two extra blankets; one to sit on cause the metal bleachers get even colder, and one to wrap around ourselves. This week it's my turn. I've got food and two thermoses of hot chocolate, plus I'm spending the weekend at Jess's house so I've got everything that I need for that."

"Don't they have food at the game?"

"Yeah, but it's overpriced for the amount that they give you so I don't usually bother."

"What about the package?" Trowa asked, speaking for the first time since I'd gotten in.

"It was being delivered as I was leaving my house. And it is from…" I picked up the box to get a better look at the sender, and a delighted smile lit my face. "…My brother. He's in Germany." I began to pull apart the packaging tape.

"Is he going to school there?" Quatre asked.

"Nope. He's in the Preventers."

"Are you allowed to tell people that? I thought Preventer identities were supposed to be secret."

"I'm allowed to say what country he's in and that he's a Preventer, nothing more. And I have to report anyone who tries to get more information out of me." I finally managed to pull apart the packing tape and gave a squeal of delight. Lying inside the neat packaging was a boy and girl porcelain doll in traditional Norwegian clothes. Quatre twisted in his seat so that he could get a better look at it.

"You collect dolls?" He asked.

"It's more of a tradition, actually. Mom used to send me dolls like this from every place that she was stationed; it was her way of making up for not being there most of the time."

"She was in OZ?"

"The Alliance. She was killed when OZ staged their Coup de tat."

"I'm sorry." There was real sadness when he said that, and I somehow knew that he was thinking of his own father's death. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Thanks, but I got over it awhile ago." We settled into a sort of still silence, none of us really knowing what to talk about after that, and then a question popped into my head. "What were you two doing by my house anyway? I thought that you lived on the other side of town." Quatre and Trowa exchanged glances, speaking to each other in a way that only they understood.

"We were bored and just driving around before we had to be at the school." That sounded a bit fishy to me, but I shrugged and let it drop. We were at the school anyway, and I could see Jess waiting by the front gate. Trowa pulled up to her and I got out.

"Thanks for the ride." I said and pulled my stuff out after me.

"No problem. We'll see you at the game later. Bye!"

"See ya!" Jess stared at me as they drove off. "What?" I asked her.

"How did you get them to give you a ride?" She asked.

"They saw me sitting at the bus stop and offered."

"You're so lucky. Let's get going." She began to walk away, then stopped when I didn't follow. It was her turn to ask What? I pointed to my stuff.

"You're going to end up eating half my food anyway so you might as well carry some of this." I said with mock annoyance. She rolled her eyes and helped me with the bags.

888

Early December

888

"First we take bxh, then we multiply Area and Width, then divide by…" I mumbled to myself as I attempted to do my Geometry homework before I forgot the lesson. Call me weird if you want, but talking out loud when I do my homework helps me to focus. Especially in math and science, two of my least favorite subjects. My friends have tried to tutor me a couple of times, but it never worked out. One, they're not very good teachers at subjects that they are also learning, and two, I've never liked asking for help from anyone, for any reason. I just don't. I'd rather be out there helping people then getting help myself. Kari plopped down next to me with her cafeteria lunch.

"How's it coming?" She asked. I gave an annoyed sort of mumble. "What was that? I didn't catch it." Kari teased. I gave her an evil look.

"It's going the same as always, slow. Ever so slow."

"Are you going to do the extra credit problems that she gave us?"

"I've got too, I need all the extra credit I can in that class."

"Why? You have a C average as of Friday."

"A _low_ C average. I want to have a few extra points so that if I completely bomb on the next test I have less of a chance of it turning into a _D average_." Kari took a wary look at the lunch she had bought before opening the plastic and letting out the enclosed steam.

"I could always tutor you."

"We tried that last year, remember? I don't do well with tutors."

"Doesn't your brother usually help you when he IM's you on the internet?"

"Yeah, but the last message I got from him said that it might be a while before he could contact me again."

"When was that?"

"This morning. I checked my E-mail when we were in the computer lab during English."

"Did he say how long?"

"Nope."

"Bummer. What do you think he's doing?" I rolled my eyes at her.

"I couldn't tell you even if I had an idea, you know that."

"That really sucks."

"Why?"

"Cause your older brother has this amazing job and you can't brag about it at all. I bet the Jocks and Cheerleaders would leave you alone if you told them what your brother does for a living.

"Nice thought, but I highly doubt it."

"Mind if we join you?" Quatre asked. Both Kari and I looked up to see 'the Gang' as they had been dubbed by the students, standing near our table.

"Yeah, sure." Kari said and moved her bag from the bench to the ground to make more room. I also moved my stuff to the ground, then bent over my homework to try and finish the last two problems.

"Hey, don't be anti-social." Duo said as he bent closer to get a look at my work. I growled at him, and I could feel the looks of surprise coming from each of them.

"Don't mind her, she's a bear when she's trying to finish homework. Especially Math and Science. It's best to just leave her alone." Kari said.

"Does she have trouble with those subjects?" Trowa asked. Kari shrugged.

"Sometimes. We've tried to tutor her, but it never ends well. What are you guys doing here anyway? I thought that you ate lunch in Mr. McAllister's room."

"You pay attention to where we eat lunch?" Heero asked, for some reason getting defensive.

"I know where everyone eats lunch, it's a hobby of mine. So why are you here?"

"The cheerleading team got wise to where we were hiding so we had to find a new place." Quatre said. "And you two are much more interesting to be around."

"Well, thanks. No one's ever said that about us before, right Kristen?"

"If you take the diameter of the circle, add Pi, no, multiply Pi, no…" I muttered to myself as I tried to finish the last two problems. They all laughed as I chewed on my pencil, and then I blinked in mild surprise as a hand started to erase all my work on that problem.

"Try it again, and pay attention to the first sentence of the problem." Wufei said. I looked up at him in annoyance, re-read the problem, then smacked myself in the forehead.

"No wonder it wasn't working. Thanks." I said and quickly finished the last two problems, now that I knew what to pay attention to.

"No problem." He said. "You had the right procedure, you were just starting from the wrong point." Kari was staring at me in fascination.

"What?" I asked her.

"How come you didn't bite his head off when he helped you?"

"Huh? Well, I don't know, I just didn't. Anyway, I am now done, Woo-Hoo, with this homework, I have nothing from English, and we have a lab in science today so that's almost guaranteed to mean that there's no homework. I am free!" I yelled and threw my hands up dramatically, making everyone laugh.

"What are you two doing for the holidays?" Quatre asked as I tackled my lunch, which I had wisely bought from home. We both shrugged.

"Sleep late, hang out together. Jess's family invited me to spend Christmas day with them." I said.

"My cousin will be disappointed." Kari said and winked at me. I looked at her blankly.

"Why is that? I only met him last year, and we didn't talk all that much."

"Because he has a crush on you, that's why! His older sister told me."

"Oh he does not."

"Does to."

"Does not."

"You two can be really childish sometimes." Trowa said with a small smile that we had learned to mean he didn't mean anything by that comment. We both stuck our tongues out at him in response, which made everyone laugh again. We all quieted down when Heero got this incredibly scared look on his face and turned to see what had caused it. Kari and I groaned, for heading towards us were a bunch of cheerleaders and their followers. The boys all looked absolutely mortified.

"I thought we lost them." Wufei mumbled dejectedly.

"They must have built in radar." Duo mumbled back. They had reached us by now, and tried to sit next to the boys, but they had spread out around the table and placed their school bags on the bench so there was no room. Jenny, who is a huge ditz and has a major crush on Wufei, tried to hang over his shoulder.

"You silly boy, trying to play hard to get." She crooned. Wufei pushed her roughly away.

"I am not playing hard to get Onna, I just don't like you." He snapped.

"Ugh, what are you doing with these," Stacey motioned to Kari and I disgustedly "_Undesirables_?"

"At least they carry on intelligent conversations." Trowa said.

"And they care about more than boys and make-up." Duo added. Kari and I were in awe. We knew that the boys had no love for the cheerleaders, but we had never had anyone defend us in front of them before. Casey, a senior who was in my Geometry class, snatched up my homework.

"I've already finished my homework, I had it done before it was assigned." She said haughtily and waved my papers. I snatched them back from her.

"Was that when you were a sophomore or junior? This is the third time you're taking the class after all." I said sweetly as I put my homework away. The boys and Kari all cheered while the cheerleaders gasped. Casey just stuck out her nose.

"C'mon girls, if they want to hang with losers than they aren't as cool as we thought." She said and stormed off, her troupe following. I slumped in my seat, my head falling onto my arms.

"Oh Lordy I just signed my death warrant. They already don't like me and I have just sealed my fate." I mumbled. Quatre rubbed my back sympathetically.

"Don't worry about it, we've got your back." He said.

"Thanks." I mumbled, still reeling not only from standing up to the bane of my existence, but somehow finding the courage to do so.

"And at least you got them off our backs; we'll be eternally grateful for that. If there's anything you want just name it and we'll try to get it." I finally looked up and smiled at that.

"Thanks." I said. "But the only thing that I really want is for my brother to make it home for Christmas." The boys all looked at each other.

"That might be a little tricky for us." Heero said. "But Santa's supposed to be able to grant things like that.

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All right, here is the second chapter. How did you like? And I think that this will be three or four parts, I haven't fully decided yet but it won't be any longer than that. Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update on anything, but I went home on leave and spent most of the time with family and friends and my star trek tapes. I am a trekkie and proud of it! Anyway, this chapter is a little shorter than I wanted but I figured that you had waited long enough and I promise that at least one of my other stories will be up this week as well.

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Late March

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My brother never did make it home for Christmas, and I even asked Santa for him. I'm serious. The owner of the book store that I work in sits in the back dressed as Santa for us older kids who want to see Santa but don't want to go to the department store Santa. It's great, and lots of fun. I haven't received any e-mails from him recently, or any gifts. I'm starting to get a little worried, but the family liaison at the local Preventer office told me not to worry, that it's good that I haven't heard from him. The liaison, not my brother. I guess that's true, but it still doesn't keep me from worrying.

But anyways, I'm at work now, and doing some of my homework while sitting behind the register. It's Wednesday, one of our slower days, and I had a paper that I needed to finish that was due on Friday before Spring Break started. My boss, Jack, doesn't really care if I do homework, he actually prefers it since school is really important to him. I'm not the only school kid here, (though the other guy, Chris, is in college) and Jack says that he doesn't want us to turn out like him. I can't figure out why, since he's a great big lovable teddy bear with a heart of gold and a love for little kids. Most of the younger kids will come here to hangout after school because he's so much fun to be around. I love it when they come around as well, cause I love kids just as much. We've been talking about different careers in English class, and while I'm still not too sure what exactly it is I want to do, I know that I want to work with kids. And definitely something to do with music.

Jack isn't here today; he had to take his younger brother to the hospital. Most of the kids left when they discovered this, but a few of them stayed behind to hang out with me, which I was surprised at. They somehow have it in their heads that I'm 'really cool' because I'm in high school and have a job. And they love to hear about when I stand up to the cheerleaders and jocks, though I always tell them that I'm scared shitless when I do so. It can be fun at times, and I help them with their homework when there aren't too many customers in the store.

The bell above the door dinged, and in walked Katie Cartwright with her little brother and sister, both in the second grade. She was in eighth grade herself.

"Hey you three, what's up?" I asked. We all live on the same street, and Katie was the first friend that I made when I moved here, despite the fact that she's younger than me.

"Hey Kristen. Mind if we hang here for awhile? Mom and dad are fighting again." She said. I mentally sighed. As I've said before, my neighborhood isn't all that nice. But I put on a smile for her; I hate to see her down.

"You know it's all right; I'd rather have you here than walking the streets. You've got homework to do, right?"

"Yeah, thanks. And I brought coloring books for them. You have the crayons, right?" I pulled out the box that Jack kept for occasions like this and handed it to her.

"You know we do. And how are you two today?" I asked her siblings. They stayed quiet, just giving me a small smile and finger waves. Neither of them ever talked much, but I could usually get them to say 'hi' to me. I guess this fight between their parents was bigger than I had thought. Katie sighed tiredly and settled herself and her siblings at the table that we have in the corner. She and I went to our work quietly, and since it was far too silent in the shop Chris turned on the TV to a news station, and though we started out half listening, one particular news report caught our attention.

"_Earlier today there was some excitement in the warehouse district as Preventer Agents, who will remain unnamed due to their undercover status, attempted to arrest members from the terrorist group R.A.D., who have claimed responsibility for a number of minor bomb threats over the last two years. Unfortunately, while apprehending several lesser members of the group, the Agents were unable to get one of the high ranking members, who had been in town planning the destruction of the city's Performing Arts Center. We go now to the warehouse where Preventer Agent Sally Po will make a statement."_ The scene shifted to the warehouse, where Agent Sally Po was waiting with a reporter. I had to admire her for looking so calm and professional when she must have a million things running through her mind.

"_So, Agent Po, what can you tell us about what happened today?"_ The reporter asked. Sally wiped a hand across her brow.

"_Through intelligence gathered by various agents we had determined that this was a base of operations for the terrorist group R.A.D. We had originally planned to wait until we could gather more information, but last night we received a report from an undercover agent that they had finalized their plans to bomb the Performing Arts Center, so we knew that we had to act quickly. By quickly gathering a small team of specially trained agents we were able to plan and execute the attack this morning with a minimum of casualties."_

"_What about the reports of an Agent being shot and killed?"_

"_One Agent was shot, but is not dead. The wound was superficial and last I checked he was begging to be released from the hospital."_

"_You said that there was a minimum of casualties; can you be more specific?"_

"_There were several people wounded on both sides, but nothing life threatening. That's all the time I can spare now, I have to get back to work."_ Sally walked off, and the camera shifted to the reporter.

"_There you go, another example of how the Preventers are being effective and keeping us safe. If any politician wants to try and say that they're a waste of money, they can kiss this reporters butt."_ Everyone in the shop giggled at the reporters flippancy, then stopped when Duo walked in, looking around nervously.

"Hey Duo, is anything wrong?" I asked, being a little unnerved by his silence and the apparent ease with which he checked for followers.

"I'm hiding from Quatre."

"Uh, why?"

"I injured myself making a sandwich earlier and now he wants me to stay in the hospital over night."

"And that's a bad thing because…?"

"Because I hate hospitals. They always have that sterilized, hospital smell and mean old nurses who won't let me watch TV." Katie and I giggled, and so did Katie's little brother and sister, though I'm not sure they knew exactly why.

"So why is it Quatre you're running from? I would think that Heero or Wufei would be the ones to force you to stay in the hospital."

"Then you don't know Quatre very well. He's a devil under all that innocence, and he's impossible to say no to. You won't tell him I'm here, will you?" He pleaded.

"Too late, he's walking down the street now, and I think he's spotted you." Duo eeped! and hid behind the chairs, which made the twins giggle even more. Quatre walked in and immediately zeroed in on me.

"He's here, I know he is. Where is he?" He asked, turning puppy dog eyes on me. I smiled sweetly and batted my eyes, using my own innocent act to combat his.

"I don't know what you're talking about Quatre." I said sweetly. His eyes narrowed and he gave me a funny look.

"Oh you're good." He said. I laughed.

"Thanks. He's behind the reading tables."

"Traitor!" Duo called out as he tried to slip out the door. Quatre grabbed his shirt and held firm.

"_You_ are going back to the hospital." He said.

"It's a flesh wound! Nothing more! What do I need to stay in the hospital for?" Duo whined as Quatre dragged him out to the car. The door closed behind them, so I never got to hear Quatre's answer. Katie, Chris and I all looked at each other before starting to giggle.

"Kristen?"

"Yeah Katie?"

"You are _so_ lucky to go to school with them." We all giggled some more, and were still giggling when the UPS delivery guy walked in.

"I have a package here for a Kristen Dasher." He said. I nodded.

"That's me." He handed me the package, I signed for it, and then Katie, Chris and I all looked at it.

"Who's it from?" Chris asked. I looked all over the box for a return address but couldn't find any.

"Don't know, it doesn't say. Why would they send it here, and not to my house?" I asked and gave it a gentle shake, and didn't hear anything rattle. I then put my ear against it and listened closely. "It _sounds_ safe." I put it on the counter and used a pair of scissors to slice through the tape.

"Who sends you dolls?" Chris asked after we had pulled out the packaging peanuts and revealed two German dolls.

"My brother does, but he already sent me these last year. Why would he send them again?"

"And why didn't he put his name on the package?" Katie asked.

"You should tell the family liaison, he might be trying to send something for the Preventers through you." Chris said as he moved to continue stacking books.

"I'll have to wait until tomorrow to do that, by the time I get off work the office will be closed. But if that's the case, why didn't he put in a note or something?" Katie and Chris shrugged, and we all put it out of our minds and went back to what we had previously been doing.

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So do you people still like it? My life is very dull at the moment and reviews help to brighten my day! I love help to, so if you have a question or an idea that might be good let me know! And I didn't do this earlier, but I want to thank the two people who helped me with the spelling of 'shined'. As you can see, I changed it to the correct spelling. Thanks much!


	4. Chapter 4

The second to last chapter. I hope you enjoy!

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Middle of May

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It was dark and chilly that night when I locked up the store. Jack had called to say that his brother had taken a turn for the worse and he wasn't moving until his brother woke up and asked if I could lock up. No biggie, I was used to those things, and the bus stop wasn't far from the store so I wasn't worried about muggers or anything. It was my neighborhood after all.

But that night there was something different. I'm not sure what it was, but it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I was being followed, but this was different than the usual mugger, or one of my friends playing a prank. It was just…different somehow, and I didn't like it.

I lashed out backhanded, hitting my pursuer in the jaw and sending him reeling. His companion tried to clock me on the side of my head, so I countered with a backwards kick which, from the groan I heard, hit him in the groin. I whirled around, ready to face them and more, when I felt a prick on my arm. Immediately out of reflex I slapped the spot, and pulled away a small needle dart. I only had time to look up in surprise before I passed out.

I woke up after who knows how long with a splitting headache. The floor that I was on was hard and cold, most likely cement. I sat up, taking slow breaths since I felt like passing out again. I heard the scraping of a chair against the floor, and looked toward it to find a man as old if not older than my father sitting in it, staring at me. I immediately tried to back away, only to find that I was chained to the floor by my ankles, and it wasn't a very long chain. He smiled, and it made me sick to my stomach.

"Finally awake are you? Good, then we can get things going." He said.

"Where the hell am I?" I demanded.

"You are under my protection, and so long as you cooperate you will stay under my protection." I set my jaw tightly. I didn't like the sound of that.

"What is it you want." I asked through clenched teeth.

"It's simple really. We know that your brother is a Preventer Agent who was sent undercover into our organization. He stole some information from us, and we want it back."

"So why would you want me? He doesn't send me shit like that."

"We think that this time he did. It was to risky for him to contact his partner with the information, and it was less risky for him to send you something since you are his little sister and it did not raise suspicion at the time. So where is it?"

"I already told you, he doesn't send me shit like that." The guy backhanded me across the face, redefining the pain from my headache.

"Do not play games with me girl, I won't be nice for very long." I spat out some blood at him.

"My life has never been very nice; see if you can do better." I snarled. Boy was I being brave, at least that's how I hoped I was appearing. Inside I was scared shitless, but I was following advice from my brother: 'Even if you're scared out of your wits, never let the other person see it. It will only let them know that they've won.' Well, I sure as hell wasn't going to let this bastard know that he was getting to me. The man growled at me and picked me up by the hair.

"Tell me where the package is that your brother sent you."

"Eat shit." He never got to respond, as explosions started to go off throughout the…I guess compound will have to do since I didn't know exactly where I was. He dropped me and ran out of the room, slamming the heavy metal door behind him. I stuck my tongue out at him in a purely childish manner, then set about picking the lock on my chains. It was something that I had never been especially good at, but living in the part of town that I did you pick up a few things out of boredom, so after a few minutes I smiled in triumph as the locks came open and I was free. From one set of chains at least. I was still in the…uh…cell, so I began to push at the door, hoping but not really expecting the man to have forgotten to lock it. He hadn't forgotten, so I kicked at the door in frustration, wondering what the hell to do now.

I jumped when three swift kicks answered me, and stared at the door before kicking it three times and then backing away. I didn't really know why, but something told me that this could be a way out. I mean, who else would deliberately kick a cell door other than to find out if there's anyone behind it?

I covered my head reflexively when the door was blasted open, and shouted in surprise and glee when I looked up to see my older brother standing there. I glomped him happily, and he hugged me back just as tightly.

"Oh my God Kevin, I don't believe this! I thought you were still in Germany?" I said excitedly, completely forgetting that we were in a hostile situation. Kevin smiled and gave me another hug.

"All explanations later sis, right now we have to get out of here. You good to run?" I crossed my eyes at him; I was always good to run.

"Course I am idiot." I felt more than saw a figure drop down in front of us, and stared in amazement as Trowa uncoiled himself to stand up straight. "Wha…wait a…what?" I stuttered. Trowa had that damnable small smile on his face as he took in my confusion.

"As your brother said, explanation later. C'mon, Heero's already secured an escape route for us." He took off down the corridor, and my brother had to tug on my arm to get me to start moving. After that it was a matter of staying ahead of the explosions, which wasn't difficult since most of them were remote detonated after we had cleared the area. It only took a few minutes for us to reach the exit, where I was immediately swamped with EMTs, and my brother and Trowa were talking with others in Preventer Uniforms, probably giving their report.

After they had finished rounding up the terrorists and the EMTs had pronounced me all right I ran once again into my brothers arms, then stepped back and hit him in the shoulder.

"Ow, hey, what was that for?" He whined, just like he used to when we were kids and he would let me get away with hitting him.

"For not sending me anything since before Christmas, that's what! Do you know how worried I was about you?" Tears began to well up in my eyes, and he folded me in a gentle hug.

"I'm sorry sis, but it was too risky. They were starting to suspect me, and I was afraid that they would think I was leaking information on them to you through e-mails. And I did send you those dolls." He said.

"Ones that I already had, and with no note." I tried to snap, but it came out more as a hurt whisper. He wiped the tears from my eyes.

"It was the only way to let you know that I was all right. I didn't know that they would kidnap you, thinking that there was a computer chip in the dolls." I blinked my eyes at him.

"That's what they thought? Really?" Kevin nodded, and I started to giggle. "Like I would have known what to do with a computer chip if you had sent it to me." I said between giggles. Once I calmed down I turned to face Trowa and the Gang, who were all standing in the shadows so as not to get caught by the news cameras. (How do they always know where to show up anyway?) "And what the hell are you all doing here?" I demanded, still somewhat energized from the excitement. They all just smiled.

"Isn't it obvious? We were undercover." Wufei said gruffly.

"But you're _my_ age."

"Hazards of war." I sighed in frustration and threw my hands up in the air.

"And I'm not allowed to tell anyone, am I?"

"We'd prefer it if you didn't." Trowa said.

"Dammit!" They all laughed at my playful madness, and it was then that I noticed Duo was elbowing Heero and giving him these looks like he expected Heero to do or say something and Heero didn't want to do it. I looked at them curiously. "Um, what's going on?" I asked. Duo started laughing, Heero just glared at him, so I and my brother turned to the others for an explanation. The three of them sighed, and Quatre started talking.

"It partly has to do with a bet that Heero lost."

"A bet?"

"What was bet on isn't important; but what Heero had to do because he lost was dress up as Santa and surprise you with your brother. This whole thing was supposed to be over by Christmas after all."

"But since it's not Christmas, I shouldn't have to go through with it." Heero said, still glaring daggers at Duo. I just looked at him, and it was one of those silent moments where something funny was just said or did and you haven't started laughing yet but when you do it's like a damn breaking. I wiped the tears from my eyes when I had finished.

"That's just…that was…oh that was funny." I said. "The thought was sweet, but you don't have to do that Heero. I'm just glad that my brother's back." The look of relief on Heero's face showed me just how much he had been dreading that, but the mischievous look in Duo's eyes set us all on edge. Heero began to back away slowly, and Duo basically started to stalk him.

"You still have to pay up on the bet Heero." Heero just turned and ran, with Duo following. The rest of us laughed. I turned to the others.

"Hey, so, are you guys going to finish out the school year? There's only about a month left." They looked at each other and shrugged.

"We haven't decided yet." Wufei said.

"You know that Une is going to insist we finish so that we get our diplomas." Trowa said. Kevin put his arm around my shoulders.

"C'mon sis, let's go home.

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Isn't that sweet? Next and final chapter: the graduation speech! I know that some of you have been waiting for it, and I hope that it lives up to expectations.


	5. Chapter 5

The quote that I'm using for the beginning of the speech I heard in the movie 'Coach Carter', and it is what gave me the idea for this story. I don't own any of this I just enjoy using other peoples things.

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"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world, there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were all meant to shine, as children do. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others." I paused to let these words sink in, hoping that my classmates understood what I was trying to say. "When we were sophomores, a group of five boys transferred to our school. I'm sure you all remember them." There were acknowledgement nods and murmurs from everyone. "They were only here for a year, and I'm sure that somewhere down the road of our life we'll forget, or have to look at our yearbook to remember what they looked like, but we will never forget the impression that they left on our hearts, and in our minds. I know that I never will.

"At that point in my life, I was scared to show who I really was. I'm sure that most of you remember how I was picked on, and I would just scrunch up in a little ball most of the time and try to shrink down as much as I could. Those five boys showed me that by doing so, I was only hurting myself. They didn't do anything fancy, they were simply themselves. And by being themselves, they showed me that it was all right for me to be _my_ self. That nothing bad was going to happen if I did.

"Those five boys showed me that I could shine, even though I wasn't as tall, or as pretty, or as smart as others. That just by being myself, I could help others to conquer their fear, as I was helped to conquer mine." I took a deep breath, calming myself so that I wouldn't cry. "After today most of us will not see each other again for ten years, when we have our high school reunion, if we even make it to that. I hope that the next time we do see each other, we have done our best to be ourselves, and let our own light shine through."

I sat back down in my seat amidst cheers and clapping, and Kari, who was graduating with honors, squeezed my hand and gave me a brilliant smile, which I returned shakily. I then searched the audience, finally spotting my brother about halfway in the middle seating area, and he gave me the biggest smile that I had ever seen on his face, and two thumbs up. I really smiled then, and all of my nervousness washed away to be replaced by my own pride. I had done it. I had proven to myself that I shined just as much as the former Gundam Pilots.

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I hope that this lived up to expectations, and that you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.


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